Ferrying goods across states may get quicker from next month with the GST Council set to approve on Saturday, 16th December 2017, an all-India rollout of electronic-way bill from January, 2018. Earlier it was slated for April 2018.
Under GST rules, ferrying goods worth more than Rs 50,000 within or outside a state will require securing an electronic-way or e-way bill by prior online registration of the consignment.
To generate an e-way bill, the supplier and transporter will have to upload details on the GST Network portal, after which a unique e-way bill number (EBN) will be made available to the supplier, the recipient and the transporter on the common portal.
The E-Way Bill under the GST Regime replaces the Way Bill which was required under the VAT Regime for the movement of Goods. The way bill under the VAT Regime was a physical document which was required to be generated for the movement of goods. The physical document under the VAT Regime has now been replaced with an electronically generated document in the GST Regime.
Who will generate e-way bill?
The e-way bill under the GST Regime is required to be generated by
1. Every registered person who causes movement of Goods of consignment
a. In relation to a supply (Eg: Sales); or
b. For reasons other than supply (Eg: Sales Return, Branch Transfer etc); or
c. Due to inward supply from an unregistered person
2. Every unregistered person who causes movement of Goods.
The introduction of the e-way bill has been a contentious issue, with businesses protesting against the burden of additional paperwork and processes that would come along with it.
